That's called the customer acquisition cost, and it's not uncommon in any industry, several carriers are offering perks to new customers. But it seems like this cost for businesses is growing over time. It would make for an interesting graph to see different industries cost change over time. It's a gamble by the suits, they are betting that their product or service will be so impressive that you'll stick around for a while and they'll make that money back.
But for a sales rep to do it, when returns are the least fun thing to do in retail, says to me there's some additional incentive for the reps to sell Samsung.